The Solar Share: An Edible Solar Coin is a project that questions the predominant economic models based on the learnings of organisms that capture solar energy, fundamental for the metabolism of life on Earth. Presented as a one-square-metre microalgae bioreactor, the work focuses on human dependence on photosynthesis and proposes collected edible microalgae as a radical economic unit: The Solar Share. This unit is the biomass produced in one square meter of the earth’s surface in a single day. This unit of edible algae is a working photosynthetic test that can be consumed, exchanged or stored as currency.
The Solar Share is an invitation to experience first-hand a transformative economic model that reintegrates human metabolism and energy needs with the real energy that enters the Earth system through photosynthesis. The Solar Share: An edible solar coin provocatively refocuses the Earth’s metabolism in the economy, redefining sustainability within planetary boundaries.
“In addition to its scientific basis and good artistic resolution, the project has a great capacity for raising awareness.” – Tere Badia
+ Artist
DISNOVATION.ORG is a research collective created in Paris in 2012, made up of members such as Maria Roszkowska (PL), Nicolas Maigret (FR) and Baruch Gottlieb (CA/DE).
DISNOVATION.ORG fuses contemporary art, research and hacking to critically translate complex socio-ecological debates into operational and provocative exhibitions. They create radical works posed as large laboratory experiments focused on energy, ecology, and economics, which function as catalysts to imagine futures divergent from dominant narratives. Her exhibitions, books, and videos have permeated global cultural landscapes, fostering critical dialogue at the intersection of art, politics, and science.
+ Credits
Conception and realization: DISNOVATION.ORG
Co-design: Katharina Ammann
Project assistants: Romain Theron, Léo Lima
Co-production: IFT Paris, Xcenter Nova Gorica, ART2M and More-Than-Planet
The Solar Share has been produced with the support of the European Union’s S+T+ARTS programme, and co-commissioned by HacTe. He was inspired by the challenge “Understanding and engineering photosynthesis for a more sustainable future”, launched by the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), and by the conversations held with the Photon Harvesting in Plants and Biomolecules (ICFO) research group during the research phase of the project.
This project has been developed in the context of the S+T+ARTS in the City project. S+T+ARTS in the City has received funding from the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology of the European Commission within the framework of grant agreement no. LC-01984766.
